Left 4 Friends (L4F)
by Notthegovernment
Summary: Greenflu has spread over the land, and into the small town of... Tree Town. Our survivors must fight the hordes, their fears, and even other uninfected to make it out alive. All tree friends are humanoid. M for blood, violence, gore, profanity, and various other nasty things.
1. Chapter 1

**Author notes: I don't know the name of the mental condition that makes me write about such weird crosses, I've had it since I was little. ANYWAYS I realise the title makes no sense, as it pretty much is no longer a play on words, and is just a statement, but piss off. Read, review, if applicable enjoy. Also, fair warning, all characters are human, because animals don't talk in the l4d universe (to the extent of my knoledge).**

**Left 4 Friends**

Campaign 1: Tree town

Mission: 0 Prologue

She has no idea what to do. She stands there, dumbstruck and breathing heavily as the banging and moaning goes from a dull roar to a deafening cacophony. A hand smashes through the window and flails aimlessly, trying to find something to latch onto and destroy. After a torturous minute, she is approached from behind by seemingly the only one not out to kill her. A cold piece of metal and plastic is pressed into her hand as she continues to stare at the creaking door dumbstruck. She snaps out of her daze briefly and looks down into her hand to see her fathers gun, the one he always hid under the bed, clutched firmly in her hand. "C'mon Flaky, shoot!" her friend shouts in her ear.

She finally snaps out of her stupor and takes aim at the door, hands still shaking in fear. Her father had taught her how to shoot simply as a hobby, she never expected to have to take aim at a living target. She starts breathing heavily when she is tapped on the shoulder again "Flaky, I love you to death, but we seriously don't have time for this. If you don't start shooting we're seriously going to be dead." her friend tells her again, urging her to fire. Flaky's mind simply raced, trying to remember how it turned to this, why was this happening, was it all just a dream? They were just walking over to their house on the edge of town and passed some people who looked really sick. She tried to help them, but they ignored her. Finally, when she turned one of them to face her, it lashed out! They ran here as fast as they could and- "FLAKY FOR GOD'S SAKE SHOOT!"

Flaky blinked twice and raised the gun. She pointed at the window first, as it was the only clear target. The man looked pale, his skin a dull grey, his eyes black, and his mouth covered in blood. She sighted the top of his head and squeezed the trigger. With a sharp crack the bullet was discharged, and with a sickening pop the bullet blasted clean through the man's head, sending him toppling back, presumable dead. Flaky was about to start hyperventilating again when she heard "That's good, now c'mon, take out the other ones!" She regained her composure and took aim at the door. Though she couldn't see the people behind it, she aimed roughly at eye level and popped off a few more rounds. The bullets tear though the wooden door and hit their target, sending at least one toppling to the ground. Flaky aimed back at the window, where another one appeared. She quickly dispatched this one as well, before turning her attention to the roof. Something, somehow, was banging on the roof... and... growling?

She took aim, trying to hear over the banging on the door where exactly this thing was. Finally, after a few moments of tracing the noise, she let off two rounds. She heard a yelp like a kicked puppy as the bullets tore through the ceiling. Blood trickled in as whatever was up there seemed to leap off the roof. She turned back to the door, confidence growing as the assailants fell before her. She pumped three more rounds into the door and heard two more thuds on the pavement. A hand burst through the rapidly diminishing door and waved around in blind fury. Flaky took aim and let off a shot. The bullet tore the woman's thumb off and seemed to hit her somewhere in the chest. A second shot blasts her hand off at the wrist, but barely seems to faze her as she keeps wildly flailing her bloody stump around. A third shot higher and to the right makes the arm go limp before slumping and sliding out the door. Flaky flips back to the window, where one of the people is trying to crawl through, gut getting sliced apart on the shattered glass. Two shots and he's out. She turns back to the door and pulls the trigger again.

A dull click and Flaky's heart sinks. She looks at the gun dumbly as her mind fails to put the pieces together. She is handed another clip "Here, keep going, you're doing great!". Flaky stares at the clip nervously, breathing heavier with each moment. Her friend is about to speak up when Flaky turns to her.

"I don't... I don't know how."

Her friends cheery face turns to a look of confusion "What? What do you mean you don't know how? Your dad taught you to shoot that good but didn't teach you to reload the damn gun?!"

Flaky shook, the room practically spinning "I... he... He always helped me... I never... he would never let... I... I don't know how."

Her friend was now starting to panic as well "Well, figure it out! We don't have much goddamn time to screw around!" Flaky scramble with the pistol, her head throbbing as her eyes darted around the weapon. She finds a small button on the side of the handle and presses hard, the spent magazine sliding out. "Okay, halfway done." She states, trying to reassure herself. She puts the new magazine in tries to pull the trigger. The trigger refuses to go back, what's more, when her hand moves out from under the handle the clip slides right out. She tries to pick the clip up when she hears an earsplitting crack and sees several of the creatures burst through the door. She stumble back, dropping the gun in her panic as the people quickly close the distance. Her friend lets out a shill scream as one of the beasts literally leaps onto her and begins drawing her back. Flaky simply curls up and weeps as the things begin to pound her back, winding her and sending pain shooting throughout her whole body.

A series of rapid, powerful bangs are heard, followed by a spraying of blood and the toppling of bodies. Flaky squeals as the corpses flop on top of her and roll off, their lifeless cold skin and chilling blood crash onto her exposed arms. She continues to breathe heavily, so much so in fact that she couldn't tell that the noises had stopped. After what feels like an eternity of waiting she feels a dull prodding on her back. She at first curls up tighter, fearing whatever it may be, but eventually she unfurls and looks up at the source of the poke. It was a man, an older looking one (early to mid forties), sporting green military fatigues, a grizzled, fuzz covered face, and toting a machine gun.

Flaky got onto her knees, doing her best to avoid touching the corpses, and took a better look at him. His sleeves went all the way down to his wrists, and his pants went down into his brown boots, so she couldn't really tell just how fit the man was, but judging by his rather meaty hands and dress she could guess he was no couch potato. His clothes... HIS CLOTHES! "OH THANK GOD, THE ARMY!" Flaky screamed, leaping to her knees and hugging the man tightly. Her head pressed against his neck and chest, and she felt the firmness of his abdomen through her t-shirt. She squeezed him a few more seconds before she felt him pushing her away, slowly but steadily applying pressure to her right shoulder until they were at arms reach.

He spoke with a much softer voice then his features would suggest he had "Uh, hate to break this to you girl, but I'm not with the army. I've been retired for a good 10 years now." Flaky's shoulders slouched and her soul sank

"But... but, your uniform..."

The man looked down at it "What about it?" He asked, looking for a spot or some form of blemish on his fatigues. Flaky is about to speak up when her friend approaches, trying to wipe the blood off her light pink shirt.

"Hey, thanks. If you hadn't showed up...ugh. Anyway, what's your name?" She asked, extending her right hand.

The man shakes her outstretched hand "Flippy, my name is Flippy. Yours?" He asks, looking between the two girls.

"I'm Giggles" She says, before turning to Flaky "and this is Flaky. We're glad to meet you."

An awkward pause ensues as the girls try and think of something to say, while Flippy tires to phrase what he wants to say. Finally, the silence is broken by Flaky "Hey, um... Flippy? Could... could you hand me my gun?" Flaky asks, pointing to the pistol lying flat on the floor. Flippy strides over and picks up the weapon, weighing it in his hands before sauntering back over and handing it over to Flaky. She smiles weakly, before a second object is handed to her.

"I think you'll need this too." Flippy says, handing Flaky the clip. She took it hesitantly, giving him a weak smile as she inspected the clip. "What's wrong?" Flippy asked, looking at the small, red shirted woman fiddle around with both clip and weapon.

Giggles snatches the weapon from Flaky's hand , handing it over to the ex-soldier. "Sir, can you teach me and my friend here how to reload? Apparently her dad taught her how to shoot like a trick marksman, but not how to put more bullets in the gun." Giggles snarked, before handing Flippy both weapon and clip.

Flippy smiles and handed Flaky his assault rifle, before taking her pistol in return. She was baffled that he trusted them with his weapon, and barely watched as Flippy went over proper reloading procedure. She quickly snapped back to reality as he slapped the pistol back into her hand and asked for his rifle back. She complied, and the three stood in silence for several moments. It was Giggles who spoke up first, her high voice in stark contrast to the feeling of power it let off. "So, Mr. Flippy, do you know what the hell is going on?"

Flippy sighed "Not the foggiest. I was just watching TV when all the sudden the news cut to some special emergency broadcast. Called for everyone to get to the TreeTown hospital for evac. Didn't know what it meant until I saw one of these things try and break down my door. I loaded up on what I could and went out to hunt for some survivors, now here I am. What say we get the hell over to the tree town hospital?" he said, trying to sound as gruff as he could (and miserably failing).

Flaky and Giggles looked at each other. Could they really trust this guy? I mean, he may have saved their lives, but they didn't really know anything about the retired army man. Flaky hadn't forgotten what had happened earlier though, the way he had trusted them with his rifle, which in this outbreak, is pretty much his life... "Ugh, okay, let's make our way to TreeTown hospital... but we still have to look for people, okay?" Flaky tried to bargain.

Flippy laughed "Why, of course! That's why I'm here!" he turned and motioned for the girls to follow. They were about to leave when Giggles snapped her fingers.

"Wait here you guys, I have to grab something." with that, she ran back into the house and up the stairs. Flippy scanned the horizon, looking for possible threats, while Flaky looked at her feet. She still couldn't believe what was happening, still wanting to believe that it was all a bad dream, that she was simply having a nightmare. When Giggles returned, she had Flaky's baseball bat, the one she had swung once before deciding baseball wasn't her thing. Flippy raised an eyebrow "What? I don't have a weapon." she replied. Flippy nodded and the three of them went outside.

Bodies where strewn across the lawn, many dead from Flaky's own hand. She cringed at the thought, at the possibility that she had taken a life, but remained silent, heading up the rear of the group. Flippy motioned for them to go right, towards the inner parts of TreeTown. The girls followed, knowing they had little choice in the matter. After about a block of walking, they hear something, something moaning. Flippy scans the area as Giggles prepares her bat. After a few brief seconds, he pops off a few rounds down the street, and sure enough, a pale body hits the pavement.

"LOOK OUT!" Flaky screams as she points in the opposite direction. About a dozen more of the creatures where closing in fast, running and writhing at the group. Flippy wasted no time in emptying the remainder of his magazine at the horde, the mass collapsing into a heap a few feet from them.

"Good eye!" Flippy said, putting another clip into his weapon. Just as he pulled the hammer back, a figure lunged onto him, giving a screeching battle cry. Flaky screamed again as the creature pinned Flippy to the ground, and began tearing into his flesh. After about two swings, Giggle snapped into action, smashing her bat into the small of the leaping things back. The creature barked in pain as the bat smashed its vertebrate with a sickening crunch. It fell onto its side, legs twitching as the neural signals were cut off. Flippy rolls onto his feet with surprising speed and puts a bullet between the creatures eyes, ending its incessant yelping.

While Flippy regained his composure, feeling blood slowly trickle from the slicing wounds, Giggles approaches Flaky, who is still on the ground panting. "C'mon girl, your not the one who got pounced." she said annoyed, reaching her hand out to Flaky. She gives a nervous and ashamed chuckle as she takes the hand, allowing it to pull her up.

Flippy tells them that the streets aren't safe, and asks them to keep up. He then begins booking it to town, slowing only to pick off some straggling infected. Giggles and Flaky trail by a good twelve feet, avoiding any and all of the monsters that they could. Flaky was gasping for air after about half a dozen blocks, unused to running for these kinds of distances. Giggles was likewise getting winded, but was in generally better shape, allowing her to keep up. Flaky is about to ask to slow down when something snags her, something long and slimy, wrapping around her neck. She gasped as the tentacle like appendage wrapped itself around her waist, forcing her arms down to her sides. Finally, she hits the end of her tether, the beast able to hold its ground, and she is flipped onto her back. She lets out a strained cry for help as she begins to be dragged back.

It takes a few seconds for her compatriots to slow down, turn and assess the situation. The thing drawing her back is a nightmarish being, standing nearly 7 feet with long spindly limbs, massive cancerous growths and boils sprouting from over the things entire left side, and a long, thick, powerful tongue, wrapped around Flaky's body. Giggles charges the beast, bat at the ready before Flippy can even take aim. Flaky is just within the towering freaks grip when a sickening splash like sound is heard, with blood and flesh splattering over her. The tongue goes limp and falls to the ground, as the creature falls back as well. Flippy had fired a shot clean through its mouth, severing both the tongue and the spine in one fell swoop.

Flaky and Giggles are then assaulted by a horrific stench and thick billowing gas, coming from the dead beast. Giggles, coughing and wheezing all the while, lifts Flaky to her feet and pulls her out of the smoke cloud. When out, they both stop to catch their breath, nearly throwing up at the sickening stench. Finally, after what seems like an eternity, the two have recovered, breathing only slightly heavier than normal. Flippy waves them over "C'mon, hospital is only a few more blocks!" he said cheerfully.

They continued down the street, killing when necessary until they finally saw the hospital, a two story white building, a sanctuary. The four of them approached the building, relieved, when Flaky notices something. "Uh, guys? Where is the helicopter... or the people trying to escape for that matter?" she asked, looking at the empty entrance, and noting the complete lack of uninfected. Flippy notices this with concern, but tries to shrug it off.

"Maybe they got on an earlier helicopter? I mean, they said they'd be running one every hour, maybe they were able to pack more people on them than they thought..."

They were about to enter the building when they noticed a figure, darting past the counter inside, hunched over in the shadows. Flippy raised his rifle, Flaky getting behind him to cover his back. Flippy waited and watched, trigger finger clenching slowly. When the figure appeared again, skittering past the entrance and over to the other side, Flippy shouted as authoritatively as he could "Friend or foe?"

The being turned, like a deer in headlights, not saying a word. Flippy pulled the trigger, spraying the glass door with bullets. The being leapt behind the counter for cover, bullets smashing into the ground and glass shards flying about like shrapnel. After a few more seconds of barrage, Flippy ran dry again, the weapon clicking to a stop. He had just popped the clip out when the three of them heard a voice emanating from the hospital "HUMAN TARGET ASSHOLE!" it said, with a mix of fear and anger. Then, they saw a piece of lab coat and pipe, fashioned into a white surrender flag wave from behind the counter.

Flippy lowered his rifle and looked at the girls, who gave a quick shrug "Sorry about that, thought you were one of the things!" Flippy called out.

The being got up quickly, throwing his arms out in anger. He looked to be in his mid twenties, with thin limbs and a tattered, patch covered ankle length coat. He wore a fedora and black glasses on his overly round, patchy face. "What the fuck is your deal man?! You could've killed me!" the man yelled, quickly closing the distance between the two, crowbar in hand.

"Sorry, but in my defense, you didn't say anything when I called out." Flippy responded, standing to his full height as crowbar guy slowed his pace, now only five feet away.

"Yeah, you surprised me, haven't seen a living face for the past three hours. Only these goddamn freaks." he responded, motioning at the desolate city around him.

Flippy frowned "Three hours? Isn't their supposed to be a helicopter supposed to come every hour?"

"Ha, you heard that bull shit broadcast to, eh? Well, they ain't coming back. I saw one leave three hours ago, saying it was the last chopper out. I guess the feds have more important places to save than some half dead little town." he sighed, shoulders slouching as the anger in him turned to sadness.

"Why didn't you get on the helicopter?" Flaky asked, looking at the man with confusion. He looked at his feet, almost ashamed of what he was about to say.

"Ugh, my idiot brother. Were as close as... well... brothers. I couldn't find him and I wasn't leaving without him... don't even know if he's still alive." Flaky looked like she was about to cry, but the man stopped her, holding up his hand "Hey, don't go weeping cause I'm stupid."

Giggles approached him, hand outstretched "Well, if that was the last heli out I guess we'll have to find another way out. I don't know if the roads will be safe... we'll be awfully exposed."

The man raised an eyebrow "We?"

Giggles smiled and shrugged "Well, you could use all the help you can get, and so can we. I think going together will be safest... so... partners?" The man stared at her hand a long time, considering his options longer than he would like to admit. A bust of gunfire erupts from Flippy's rifle as he mows down a small pack of the infected. He looks at him and motions for both of them to hurry up.

The man groans and shakes his head, before shaking Giggle's hand. She smiles "Great to hear. By the way, I'm Giggles."

The man looked up "Shifty, my name is Shifty." he then looked back at the hospital. "Listen you guys, I've gotten all the good stuff I could out of that place, most of it picked before I was even their... but I couldn't carry everything. Their are some guns on the roof you guys could get." he said, motioning towards the hospital. Flippy looks at the girls, then looks at the city. Getting guns would probably not be a bad start. He nods and the group follows him in. They make way through the abandoned hospital, stripped of all equipment, and with all bodies either splayed across the ground or shot in their beds. They make it to the stair well and Giggles notices a distinct rattling coming from under Shifty's coat. He didn't look to be carrying a lot, but was moving up the stairs quite slowly, as if weighed down.

At about the third floor, they all hear a moaning gurgle, as if someone was choking. Flaky is about to run down the hall when Shifty stops her, wide eyed and nervous. He gives a simple nod and tries to get the group to follow, but Giggles runs towards the sounds. Shifty curses and runs after her, the other two following shortly there after. When Giggles finally rounds the corner she freezes in horror at the eldritch abomination that stood before her. The thing was pot bellied, its gut bursting from a thin pair of rotting jeans. The thing's hair was tied in long ponytails that draped down to its neck, and its jaw hung off its face, practically rotted into its own extended neck. The creature gurgled and turned to face Giggles, who was slowly backing away in horror. The thing gagged and hacked up a ball of viscous green liquid, propelling it right at Giggles face. Shifty arrived just in time, tackling her out of the way as the slime slammed into the wall behind her, dissolving the wall paper like a powerful acid. It was Flaky this time that took the shot, shooting the thing in its protruding gut.

The creature made a quick screeching noise before being blown in half, acid spewing about ten feet in all directions, causing Flaky to back up quickly. Shifty slowly stood, weighed down by the equipment in his coat, while Giggles breathed in deeply. "See? this is why you don't follow the weird noises. If it don't sound human, it ain't." Shifty said, grabbing Giggle's arm and dragging her to her feet. She simply nods, picking her bat up as she rose.

The four of them rush to top, where they are greeted by a red emergency door. "Okay, I'm gonna need your help on this Army boy, this door is shut pretty tight." Shifty said, jamming the crowbar into the edge of the door. Flippy gave his name before getting to the end of the crowbar and aiding in cracking the door. After several seconds of struggle the door finally budges open, and the group is greeted by an ammo cache and some items of interest.


	2. Chapter 2

**Left 4 Friends**

Campaign 1: tree town

Mission: 1 the streets

In the corner of the rooftop helipad lays a crate of ammo and some weapons liberally spread about. Shifty is the first to approach the pile, quickly shoving bullets into his already stuffed pockets. He finally picks up a Mac 10, noticing only now that he was stocking up on bullets without having a gun. Flaky takes the second Mac 10, the gun feeling boxy and uncomfortable in her hands. She as well grabs a second pistol, one matching her original, but minus the engraving on the side. Giggles originally goes for a machine gun as well, but her eyes catch a lonesome shotgun in the corner, with boxes of shells lying around it. She smiles, and slowly strides over to the weapon. With a slight heave, she picks it up, the weight feeling good in her hands.

All four of them turn to a second set of crates, ones containing supplies. "Huh, there are only two med kits, and two vials of pain killers. Who do you think should get them?" Giggles asks no one in particular, simply pulling the items out of the box and setting them on the ground one at a time. Shifty at first picks up a bottle of pills "I think I'll take one. Can never be too careful you know?" he said, quickly shoving the pills into one of the pockets sewn inside his coat, hoping no one would notice-

"Hey wait, you've already got some... you've got at least 4 bottles in there!" Flippy protested, grabbing the flap on Shifty's coat. Shifty swatted his hand away, stowing the pills inside his long coat.

"Yeah, so? Like I said, you can never be too careful." he replied, stepping back. Flippy stood to his full height, his 6'3" frame towering over the 5'9" of Shifty.

"Shifty, give Flaky or me some of those pills. If we're gonna be a team, we have to help each other out, not stockpile and hoard for ourselves." He said, using his free hand to motion the other man over. Shifty was going to protest further when Flippy set his rifle down and produced a flashlight from his coat pocket. "Look, since this is your first time helping out one of us, I'll even make it worth your while. You give me the pills, you get this flashlight. You don't know how long we'll be out here..." Flippy trailed off. Shifty looked at him hard, his eyes darting between the light and the man himself. Shifty would be crazy to take this kind of deal in the regular world, the one that seemed so distant... but it was exactly that: a distant memory. He could either give up one of his pill bottles for light, or get the crap kicked out of him and possibly lose all four, for nothing. He groaned and cursed under his breath, before tossing Flippy a bottle. With a smile, Flippy handed him the flashlight, and gave Flaky the bottle. Flaky gave a quick thanks to both Flippy and Shifty, who simply grunted and examined his new toy.

The three of them heard a surprised yelp come from Giggles as she quickly drew her hands away from the box. "What's wrong?" Flaky asks with a mixture of concern and fear on her face.

"There are jars of puke in that thing!" Giggles says, slowly peering her head over the box. Flippy and Flaky look over and sure enough, about a half dozen jars labeled "Bile" line the bottom of the crate. Even held within glass, a faint smell emanates from the jars, one so foul and abhorrent that Flaky gags and backs up, her face paling as she forced down the bile within her.

Shifty smiles "Oh, no way, puke! These will come in handy!" he says, swiping one of the canisters and tying it to his belt loop. Both Flippy and Giggles give him a look of disgust and confusion, before Shifty explains himself. "What, you've never seen the fatso freaks?" They both shake there heads in confusion. "Oh, well, there are these infected, right? They're really fat, like, beyond morbid obese. These guys puke at the guys like us, the ones who are immune, and the other infected, they come running from all directions, trying to get this goo. They can't seem to get enough of it." He explained, tying his coat closed. Flippy nodded, more understanding now. Those jars could be used to pull attention away from the group of...

"Wait, immune? How do you know we're immune?" He asks, taking one of the bile jars anyways.

"Well, are we one of those things?" Shifty asks.

"No, but we don't know how people get infected. How do know we just haven't gotten what those other guys have. I mean... being bit, or getting blood in our wounds or..." He asks, taking a med kit off the ground.

"Dude, these things aren't zombies, there sick people. How many of these things have tried to bite you, huh? I'm guessing between zero and zero. These things don't bite, they club. No, this sickness has to be something from the air, or the water, or... fuck, I dunno! But it ain't from person to person, that's for sure, otherwise there would BE no uninfected out on the streets."

Flippy really wanted to believe him, and what he did actually made some sense, but he couldn't help but remain skeptical. He did, however, take one of the bile jars out, using his unused pistol lanyard to attach it to his belt. Flippy takes one of the med kits and some pills (eliciting a slight eye roll and a curse from Shifty), before handing the last first aid kit to Giggles. Armed and ready, Flippy slowly surveys the group, silently assessing the situation. "So, anyone got a map of some sort?" Flippy inquires.

For a few moments, the three others look at each other anxiously, praying someone here had one. After several tense moments, just as Flippy was about to give up, Shifty groaned and dug through one of the inner pockets of his coat. Soon, he produced a warped, but readable, tourist map of the city. Flippy thanks him, and promises to return it, before opening it. He looks around the map, trying to find... "Here, Tree town hospital. Right now we're about 18 blocks from the Tree town radio station. If we can get there, we can send out a distress signal and hopefully get some evac." he finished, tracing his finger along the map. "If we stick to the main roads, we can get there in an hour, tops."

He looks up from the map, only to see concerned, confounded faces. Giggles is the first to speak up "Uh, no offense, but won't the main roads be swarming with these... infected? I just think it would be a lot safer to move through the alleys, y'know, less chance of... what do you army guys call it? Ambushes?"

Flippy smiles and begins to fold up the map. "With four guns? Please, these things can't take us when we're packing this kind of heat. Plus, alleys are going to be a death trap, what with all the ricochets and acid vomit. Trust me, it really is going to be safer to move through the streets." he affirmed. Giggles consented and pumped her shotgun, while Shifty greedily snatched his map away, shoving it back into his coat.

"Okay, now on a more tactical level, we're going to have to form some kind of fighting system, one that will make the best of our weapons and skills. I say we move in a rough diamond formation, keeping firepower on nearly all angles. I'll take the lead, keeping us on course and thinning out the main horde before they can hit us in Ernest. Behind me, will be Shifty and you" he commanded, pointing at Flaky "your Machine guns will keep them from flanking us. Taking up the rear will be you, Giggles. That shotgun you've got will make real mince meat of any of those things trying to come up from behind us. You guys have any questions?"

The group looked at him dead eyed, having barely understood a word he said. Giggles nods regardless, knowing full well that day was quickly slipping into night, and they needed to get moving. The four of them descend the staircase, quickly arriving at the first floor, back into the main lobby. Flippy dashes ahead and out onto the street, head jerking and pivoting around, scanning for visible targets. With a quick twist of his waist and a pull of his finger, his rifle rattled to life, a hoard of commons that charged from behind now falling before him. By the time the other three had gotten out, all of the attackers were dead.

He flicked his hands and did a bizarre gesture before strafing to the left. The remainder of the group formed a rough formation behind him, every nerve on edge, weapons darting about erratically. After several tense moments, nothing but the clattering of shoes on pavement, a motion catches Giggles's eye. A bulky figure lumbers from the shadow directly behind them. "Uh, guys? I think there's-" Giggles began, before being cut off. A mighty roar was heard as the lopsided creature charged from the shadows, an arm as thick as a tire shielding its grotesque body. Flippy and the others turned just in time to see the thing slam into Giggles, her shotgun flying out of her grip. The beast continued through the crowd, tossing them into the air like ragdolls as it continued along, Giggles caught in the vise like grip of the beast.

The beast comes to a stop as it plows Giggles into a wall, the wind knocked from her lungs. It then raised her into the air and slammed her onto the ground, like an animal trying to crack a coconut. Giggles screamed for help and ineffectually kicked her legs as the rest of the group scrambled back onto their feet. Shifty was the first up, frisking himself manically for any sort of damage to his goods before scooping his gun out of the gutter and sprinting at the creature. He opened up at point blank range, the bullets blasting ping pong ball sized divots into the thing's back. Still, he blows through all but the last shot of his clip before it dies, haphazardly collapsing onto the curb and releasing Giggles.

Giggles rolls out of the thing's hand and shakily gets to her feet, coughing and wheezing as she clutches her torso in pain. Flippy approaches from the left as Shifty goes over to help Flaky, who is still on the ground groaning. "Are you okay?" Flippy asks, handing her the shotgun she had dropped.

"-Cough-cough-hack- yeah, I think I'm okay. That guy didn't get the chance to hit me that much." she responded, taking the gun and wincing at the movement. She takes a few hesitant steps and thankfully her legs seem unharmed.

Shifty gruffly grabs Flaky's hand and pulls her up, giving a light "Heh" at how light she was. Flaky whipped the dirt off her face before giving a thumbs up, apparently unscathed. They get back to the other two just in time, as another bunch of common infected sprint from the nearby alleyway, the whole wad screaming and writhing as they approached. Giggles blasted into the horde, knocking over several of them, before cursing in pain, the recoil slamming the butt of her gun into her badly bruised shoulder. Shifty pulls a crowbar and starts batting the nearest away as the whole group slowly retreats.

They are forced backward down the street; failing to thin the infected's numbers as more pour out of the side streets. Flaky fires ineffectually at the mob as they close in, her breathing heavy and panicked. Giggles blows holes in the crowd, (holes which are quickly filled with new attackers) every shot forcing an obscenity out of her lips. The group is forced into the intersection, all weapons low, when Shifty finally roars "Oh, god damn it!" Begrudgingly he drew out one of the bile canisters and slung it across the street, the glass shattering and sending the viscous liquid in all directions. Almost immediately the swarms broke off and charged for the bile, allowing the humans to temporarily escape. They reload as they run, figuring out the weapons as best they can before the assailants return.

Just under 30 seconds later, the heroes are attacked by one of the leaping infected, the thing pouncing from the shadows with a high pitched scream. Giggles gasps and pulls the trigger just as the creatures claws scrape against her pink, blood splattered shirt. The thing's head nearly explodes, held together only by its own ragged, pockmarked skin. The thing thuds deftly into her before plopping lifelessly onto the sidewalk. Giggles pants heavily, and is about to make a clever quip before the thunderous clambering of the previous horde echoes off the concrete walls around them, growing louder by the second.

All but Giggles fire into the approaching mob, backing away in a jog as the things draw near. Giggles instead gets to the front of the group to cover their advance. She does so just in time, as a great wad of atrophied flesh stumbles from the building before her, likely one of the aforementioned "fat fucks". Giggles whips out her bat and cracks the thing across the face, flooring the gluttonous being in one hit. She bats off a few more of the regular infected as her teammates advance behind her, backs facing her.

After another minute of fighting the last infected falls, throwing its arms out as Flaky blasts the man's chest apart with her dual pistols. They have only advanced 3 blocks. They all pant heavily as they reload in unison, relieved that the things had finally stopped their assault. Flippy had only a few clips left, and Shifty argued that he didn't have the kind of ammo that the rifle used. The four of them trudged along at snails pace, a mix of fatigue and paranoia keeping them from sprinting ahead.

A minute later, Shifty's eyes light up as he eyes a possible treasure trove of equipment: a crashed jeep. He skitters over to the vehicle and immediately starts tearing through the back of it, ignoring the mangled bodies in the front seat. Flippy reaches over the side and grabs a few clips, much to Shifty's dismay. They are not left unmolested for long however, as a horrifying crash is heard. "What the hell was that?" Flaky squeaked, nearly jumping out of her skin.

No one has time to answer however, as a new infected, one they had never before seen, cascades around the corner. The thing must weigh half a ton, with meat and veins bulging in terrible mounds of solid muscle from every part of its body. The thing trundled along like a gorilla, the disproportionately titanic arms moving it forward as its equally muscular, yet stubby, legs kept its balance in check. The thing had a battle cry that was deep and booming, vibrating the nearby windows as it went. Flaky dropped her gun, her eyes now filled with terror. She sprinted away, leaving her friends with the thing. Giggles and Flippy fire into the thing, who shrugged off the bullets like they were made of cotton. Flippy and Giggles began to retreat, with Shifty cramming as much as he could into his coat.

"What the hell are you doing man?! Leave it! Flippy yelled, barely audible over the monsters mighty footfalls.

"Just a few more thi-!" Shifty doesn't have time to finish, as the colossal tank of meat bears down on him. It throws its arm up cumbersomely, and sends Shifty flying into the air screaming. The jeep is flipped and lands upside down in the middle of the street, just as Shifty slams into a car 20 feet away with a sickening crack.

Three things happen in short order. The car alarm goes off as Shifty rolls limply off the vehicle. Infected tumble down the street, attracted by all the commotion, and Flippy gasps. He grips his head as he struggles for breath, eyes widening with adrenaline as he begins to mumble to himself. Giggles rushes to Shifty's side, trying to lift him off the ground. Flippy's breathing normalizes, however when he lifts his head, he's changed.

His pupil's are as wide as saucers, and his face bears a sickening grin. He pulls the firing pin back on his rifle, and shouts cheerily "Alright you communist sons a' bitches, its time to go back home. Play time is over!" He maniacally cackles as he unloads on the "tank", the bullets striking into the monster's eyes and face. It continues its advance, now enraged, as Flippy finishes his clip. He laughs merrily as he tosses his gun aside, drawing a combat knife instead. He hops out of the way as the tank slams its fist down, the clunky attack unable to connect. Flippy stabs into the thing's arm and twists the handle hard the right, eliciting a roar. It swings again as Flippy draws out the blade, ducking under the attack. He stabs into the tank's stomach, blade piercing deeply into the flesh. Flippy rips the knife out wickedly as the creature backs up for another attack, one which never comes. Flippy lunges at the thing and latches onto the things neck, one hand wrapped around the girth, the other plunging the knife into the tank's nose bone. The creature attempts to swat Flippy off, but to no affect. Flippy stabs and stabs, burying the knife deeper with every merciless blow. Finally, the creature gives a gurgling moan and topples backward, dead. Now Flippy turns his fury to the rest of the infected, knife in hand. "You REALLY want to play this game, bitches?" he rhetorically asks before flinging himself into the mob.

After only 20 seconds, all 50 infected lie dead, but Flippy isn't done yet. He continues to drive his knife into one of the mangled corpses, grunting with pleasure as the blade tears through the rotted flesh. Giggles approaches slowly, Shifty stumbling along behind her. "Flippy, its dead, we have to keep moving." She says, eyes darting about nervously.

"That's a negative sir, this bastard won't give up the bases' location, and if he doesn't do that, we can't get back home. We can never get back home. We can never go home." He blurted, twisting the knife about in the carcasses belly.

"Uh... Flippy, we can't just sit around stabbing the dead. We really have to get moving." She said, placing her hand on his shoulder.

"You're just like the rest of them. You think we can win this just by throwing enough bullets into the air. No... We need more than that. We have to show these guys what the hell they did wrong... and what happens if they step out of line again!" He spat, using his free hand to rip a tooth out of the broken jaw of his "captive".

Giggles sighed in frustration, uncertain of how to snap him out of... whatever he was going through. "We have to go! Flaky could... oh shit, Flaky!" She uttered in horror, remembering she had run off and hadn't been seen for almost two minutes. That got to him. Flippy gasped deeply, shaking his head clear, before blinking back to reality.

"Huh, where am I?" he asked no one in particular, unaware of what he had just done.

"Ugh, doesn't matter army boy, we have to get a move a move on, find Flaky so I can slap her across the face for running on us." He said bitterly, lobbing Flippy's rifle at him. The four trekked on, down the street, calling for Flaky every few seconds. None addressed the elephant in the room for now. All that mattered now was finding Flaky. They kill a few straggling infected as they make their way down the streets, each growing more concerned by the moment, when finally-

"Wait, what's that sound?" Giggles asks, pricking her ears up. A soft sobbing can be heard in the 7-11 at the end of the block. Giggles and the rest jog over the convenience store, the crying far more distinct. With all the windows boarded up, they can't tell if it's really her. Only one way to find out. Giggles opens the front door.


	3. Chapter 3

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Finally back from my vacation... two weeks ago, and finally stopped playing the new ****_Civilization _****expansion "Brave New World" Long enough to write something. Enjoy!**

**Left 4 Friends**

Campaign 1: Tree town

Chapter 2: The alleys

The crier sat in the corner, head hung low and shaking softly as tears rolled down her now pale cheeks. Her long hung down in a mess of tangled knots and her limbs trembled as her body quaked, fear and grief tearing at her. Giggles propped her gun against the wall and slung an arm of Flaky's shoulder, who gasped slightly and looked up at her. Tears continued to fall from her bleary eyes as she looked at her friend whom she abandoned. She tried to speak, but the words caught in her throat and the tears forced her face back into her palms.

Giggles sighed "Look, Flaky, I'm not mad about what happened back their. A lot was going on, you freaked; it could've happened to any of us." she said, attempting to calm her sobbing friend. Flaky continued to cry, trying to shift away from her friend.

Flippy began boarding up the windows as Shifty meticulously dug through what remained of the store. It was several minutes later when one of them finally spoke up. "Alright, well, now what? The main streets are straight up suicide, and ms. water fountain over here can't be trusted for jack. Options?" Shifty asked no one in particular, pointing his gun at the still sniffling Flaky.

Giggles shot up and pointed accusingly at him "Listen, asshole! You were going to leave us for dead back at the hospital, so why don't you shut your mouth! She got caught up once and now you're saying we just leave her!" she spat back at him, venom in her eyes as she heard Flaky's crying pick up again.

Shifty snorted, unshaken at her hostility "I never said anything about ditching your friend here; I just asked what do you guys think our options are. Besides, after you open fire on me I think I had a good reason not to join your little posse."

"Settle down, both of you!" Flippy interjects, stepping between them. "Bickering like a bunch of six year old is going to get us nowhere... scratch that, it's going to get us killed. Now either we learn from the past and move on like grown ups, or we can all just walk out that door unarmed, because doing this is akin to the latter." he finishes, looking intently between the two. Giggles, looks down at her feet ashamed, while Shifty simply rolls his eyes before giving a curt nod.

Flippy then steps with deliberation towards Flaky, who avoids his gaze. He takes a knee and whaps an arm around Flaky's heaving shoulders. "Flaky, I know you didn't mean to run away like that back on the streets. When we get wrapped up in the moment, we can do crazy things, things we don't even think we could ever do. However, even if you didn't mean it, you still did it. We'll stick by your side and protect you with our lives, but I'm going to have to ask you to have the same commitment. Can you promise me that?"

Flaky does nothing for several moments, the words slowly burrowing into her conscience. Finally, she gives a light nod and a sore throated "Uh-huh." Flippy smiles. "Good, I'm glad we can have someone like you on the team. Now, we need to find you a weapon soon. Those pistols you have might work in a pinch, but once the infected start piling on they won't really be of much help. Now, we can start by looking-" he is cut off as he something heavy is lobbed at him. Flippy turns and deftly catches it, looking at Shifty who apparently threw it at him. Flippy looked into his hand and saw what his comrade had given him: an almost military grade shotgun, polished and judging by the weight fully loaded.

Flippy raised his eyebrows as Shifty shrugged. "I found it behind the cash register. Merry Christmas from me, to the little girl in red." he said with mock compassion.

Flippy set the gun besides Flaky "Find any ammo?" he asked.

"No bullets except for the ones already in the gun." he responded slightly unconvincingly.

Flippy decided not to pursue the topic any further. He had come to the conclusion that Shifty was a kleptomaniac, and just giving Flaky the gun had likely been severely painful for him. "Alright. Giggles, could you loan Flaky some rounds? These weapons take 12 gauge shells, so ammunition shouldn't be that hard to come by." Giggles nodded, handing her slowly recovering friend half of her ammunition. "Now then," Flippy starts, smiling as his team regrouped "I'm only human, and admit that I made a mistake: the main roads are way too dangerous to move through over long distances. Instead, we are going to cut through as many side streets and alleys as possible. Now, this is going to have new risks like I said earlier. Those jumping infected, as well as the tongue infected-"

"Hunters and smokers." Shifty cut in, simultaneously digging through one of the freezers.

Flippy raised his eyebrow in curiosity "What?"

"We can't just keep calling these things 'the ones with weird tongues' and 'the hopping bastards'. If we're in the field so to speak we need a quick way of pointing out what kind of threats we see, ain't that how it works sarge?" he asked, sniffing some milk before closing the door.

Flippy shrugged "Yeah that makes sense. Some short had names so we can call the infected out on the go. Hunters because the short ones growl and stalk their prey, waiting for the right moment to strike. Smokers because the tall ones emit some sort of noxious gas." Shifty nods, smiling pridefully at his own ingenuity.

"Anyway, the hunters and smokers are going to be a lot more of a problem, as they'll have extra vantage points and more cover. The charging ones... 'Chargers' from here on out... will also be able to inflict a lot more damage. As well, we'll have to be a lot more careful about were we shoot, as we want to avoid friendly fire at all costs. Still, the fact that the infected will be funneled into us will make taking hordes of them out that much easier." he informed them, making his way to the back exit while simultaneously checking Shifty's map "We'll make our way to the... Ammu-nation store 2 blocks away." he then placed his hand on the door handle "Shall we begin?"

The door was swung open and the team slunk into the back alley, weapons already being repositioned to fire. Several infected fell before they even had a chance to turn, the loud thumping of an eight gauge echoing in the cramped concrete corridor the last sound they heard. The stragglers were swiftly picked off by Shifty, firing quick bursts to drop the disorganized leftovers.

Moving quickly the group made their way to the edge, wanting to make it across the main street as quickly as possible. Flippy stepped out first, keeping low as he moved into the next alley way. Next was Flaky, sprinting through the street and gasping for air as she lugged around her heavy weapon. Giggles moved much more gracefully, comfortable with the shotguns weight and size. Last was Shifty, jogging across the street while scanning the buildings for any sign of life. Shifty had almost made it to the relative safety of the next alley when his foot caught the edge of the curb. He cursed as he fell flat on his chest, his gun skittering out of his grasp.

Shifty frowned as he got up, something having drenched the front of his shirt and seeping onto his skin. He cursed again as he looked down. One of his bile jars had shattered on impact, and he was now covered in the foul smelling juices. With one hand he snatched his gun up as he brought himself up with the other, running as fast as he could to meet up with his comrades as a horde materialized behind him. The four of them stood in the mouth of the backstreet and fired in a row, their bullets mowing down the mob without much effort.

Flaky had just finished off her clip and was about to reload when she felt something slither around her neck. With a sharp yank she was hoisted off the ground, trying to scream for help but finding that she could only give short, strained wheezes. After several seconds one of her flailing legs kicked Shifty in the back, causing him to turn in alarm. He traced the tongue back up to the source, a smoker on the fourth floor, and was about to fire off a barrage of bullets when he is caught off guard by a sickening cackle.

Before he could react another creature leaps from a second story window, an infected the likes of which had never been seen. Its upper body was bulky and wide, with broad shoulders, powerful pectorals, and a thick neck; however the thing's arms were bent and deformed, with hands the size of dinner plates. The legs of this infected were buckled and misshapen as well, with withered calves and badly mangled feet. It was the face, however, that really stole the spotlight. With eyes bulging out of their sockets, lumps and bruises covering its sizable forehead, and a bleeding skinless mouth and jaw; Shifty was petrified momentarily and was easily caught.

The thing burst out in high pitched laughter as it wrapped its legs around Shifty's chest and wrapped its sizable hands around his head. It twisted and convulsed in ecstasy, causing Shifty to stumble backwards blindly into the alley. "HELP! Shoot this thing... the thing riding me... the ride-y thing... the jockey! SHOOT THE JOCKEY!" he cried out in muffled terror, turning and twisting as he continued blindly down the alley, led on by the movements of the jockey.

Flippy turned and fired with mechanical efficiency, pin pointing the smoker in a fraction of a second. Flaky gasped for air as she fell down, the smoker toppling out the window after her. Flippy ran past Flaky, trying to get a bead on the rapidly turning Jockey but unable to get a clean shot. He begins to breathe heavily as Shifty's screams grow shorter, and his steps begin to falter, knowing he is on the verge of losing him. He quivers slightly, eyes shutting tightly as something dark slips over him. When he opens his eyes again his pupils are wide and devoid of any emotion except rage.

Flippy tossed his rifle away and draws his knife, growling with primal rage as he lunges at the pair. He plunges the knife through the jockey's ribs up to the hilt, eliciting a squeal of pain from the unwanted rider. With a grunt he rips the jockey off Shifty's back, the human collapsing in exhaustion as Flippy whipped the monster into the wall, his knife tearing a jagged hole in its side nearly eighteen inches across as it came out. Flippy strolls casually to his fallen foe, wiping the blood off his blade with his sleeve as he ponders aloud the beast's fate. "Hmm... a prison is too nice for a sick fuck like you isn't it? Three full meals a day, a fancy TV, probably a bunch of your commie buddies... no, that simply won't do. A bullet to the brain is also too kind. It's too quick, too... easy. No, for you my friend, I think you deserve a special kind of punishment, one that can only be given from one soldier to another." he finished, playfully dragging his knife across its chest without actually applying cutting force.

By now Giggles and Flaky had limped their way over to the boys, picking up both the boys dropped guns as they went. Flaky stood on the verge of tears as she watched Flaky's mental breakdown in stunned silence. Giggles slowly crept towards him, avoiding any sudden movements. Just as she was about to tap his shoulder, Shifty spoke up "Hey, sergeant slaughter, can this trip down the rabbit hole wait a second? We really have to get moving if we want to-"

Shifty stops as a now familiar sound fills the air, the sound of a stampede. He slowly staggers behind Flippy, who is looking up from his corpse and towards the street. Shifty and the girls huddle together, while Flippy leers madly and begins toying with his knife. "On second thought, go ahead and hulk out. Yeah, now is a good time to get it all out of your system." Shifty said shakily, retreating behind the girls while peeling off the now dried bile.

Flippy steps out onto the street, staring daggers into the approaching horde, no less than 40 in number. "Oh, I think you're going to need to call in some backup if you want me to break a sweat, let alone if you want to kill me." Flippy sneered, raising his knife and pointing into the dead center of the crowd, now only a few feet away. In two quick slashes Flippy dispatches the three closest targets, the warm steel gliding through their mushy flesh as if it were wet tissue paper. He chuckles dryly as they topple to the ground lifeless, limbs falling off and heads rolling. "Yeah," he said, licking his blade and kicking back another one "you're definitely going to need reinforcements."

Meanwhile, Giggles was tending to Shifty's wounds, using her medical kit and limited knowledge of the human body as best as she could to patch him up. His face was a patchwork of black welts, his torso had been cut into badly, and his shoulders were covered in scrapes and bruises. Shifty winced and grunted as Giggles applied another serving of antiseptic to his chest, his mangled shirt and battered coat lying in a heap behind him. Giggles began quickly applying adhesive pads to the worst areas before wrapping his chest with gauze. Shifty pulled his coat on and tied it shut before wrapping the front of his machinegun with what was left of his shirt. He gave a brief thanks to Giggles, who smiled and assured him that this was what teammates did. The three of them turn as something bounces off the ground with a sickening crack.

A severed head rolls into view, its mouth flapping ineffectually as it rocked slightly back and forth. With a deafening crunch Flippy slams the heel of his boot into the infected's face, crushing its temple in with a spray of brackish blood. He looks up, grinning like a kid on Christmas "Whelp, that's one platoon that won't be bothering us anymore, what do you say we hit the road?"

Flaky slowly creeps towards him, eyes filled with fear "Hey, um, Flippy, are you feeling alright? You're acting kind of funny... not 'ha-ha' funny but bad funny..." she stuttered out, shriveling up as Flippy turned his full attention to her. "I... I uh... just... wanted to... to know... uh... uh..." she stammered, unable to complete her thoughts as Flippy crouched slightly and looked directly into her eyes, his hot breathing hammering her already sweat covered face. She was on the verge of tears when Flippy blinked and stepped back, opening his eyes and revealing their original look and demeanor.

"Yeah, I'm fine, why do you ask?" he said in his original voice, lacking any of the venom from before. Flaky was about to speak again when Shifty cut in.

"Doesn't matter, she's just a little shaken up, lets get to Ammu-nation before I drop from blood loss." he said, pushing both of them aside as he made his way onto the street. Shrugging, Flippy turned and followed him, but stopped when he realized he didn't have his rifle. He turned to Flaky, who just then noticed that she had been dragging it along with her. She hands him the weapon sheepishly and trails the two men onto the street. Covering the rear, Giggles walks backwards and takes out the few stragglers from Flippy's rampage.

After a two block slog through the common (the standard infected) infested back alleys, the group finally stumbles upon Ammu-nation, tree town's largest (and only) gun & gun supply store. Flippy pulls on the door handle, but finds that it is locked. He struggles with it for several more moments before raising his rifle. "Whoa, whoa, whoa sarge what the hell is the matter with you?" Shifty asks, knocking Flippy's gun away. "Don't you know that gun stores have bullet proof windows? Start firing off that rifle and we're going to catch a face full of shrapnel! I got this, just cover me!" Shifty says, digging into his coat pockets.

The three of them turn and cover Shifty, firing at anything that moved. After about one minute Shifty laughs smugly and swings the door open "Come on in, the toy store is officially open!" he said, strutting down the left side of the small building. Shifty snatches up several attachments, while Giggles and Flaky clear off a table and start dumping boxes of ammo onto it. Flippy disassembled his rifle, tossing aside any damaged or worn pieces and replacing them. After a minute, Flaky's eyes drifted up to the far wall, which was adorned with various hunting rifles. She slowly approached the wall, drawn by one sniper in particular.

"That one." she says to no one in particular, "That was the rifle my dad liked. He was really good with it... he could hit a deer that was farther than I could see..." she paused, choking up as she lifted the weapon off the wall. Wood finished, with a polished black scope and a shining chrome firing mechanism, Flaky wields the weapon like an extension of her, feeling a sense of strength wash over her frail figure. By the end of their shopping spree, Shifty had grabbed a laser sight for his machinegun and had grabbed a desert eagle pistol, Flippy had rebuilt his rifle, Giggles had stocked up on Ammo, traded out her old shotgun for a nicer military grade one, and had grabbed some special incendiary rounds, and Flaky had traded her unwieldy shotgun for a hunting rifle.

The group was just about to step out the door when the intercom crackled to life "... _zzztttzzz... 'Click'_ Ugh, is this thing on? Hello? Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's on. Hey vandals, how are you doing? I see you've gone ahead and robbed my uncle's store, which is kind of a dick move, considering he hasn't even been dead for an hour yet, but whatever." an annoying, cracking voice said, one that probably belonged to a boy no older than fifteen.

Shifty spoke up "Well, you could've stopped us or something or at least told us you were here."

"_Click' _Yeah, whatever man, I'm just fucking with you. I don't give two shits about that old douche. But hey, listen; I barricaded myself up here with enough guns, ammo, and water to last me for months, but since I was kind of in a rush, I totally spaced and forgot to bring anything to entertain me. Now I'm dying of boredom a lot faster than I am dying of starvation, and to make matters worse, I think I kind of broke the handle off the door downstairs, so I can't go out and get anything. SO, since I'm letting you walk out of here with all those cool new guns and shit, I was thinking you could do me a favor: run over to that comic book store across the street, bring back as many issues of _Splen-did _as you can carry and slide them all through the mail slot on the door in the back."

Giggles frowned "So, you want us to risk our lives to bring you some comic books? Now, what exactly is stopping us from just walking off with these guns and leaving you to your hide-y hole?" she asked in frustration.

"_Click'_ Uh, because I've been playing call of duty for, like, my whole life, and I've been no scoping these stupid zombies for 2 hours, so if you try and run on me I'll blow your head off, babe!" he replied smugly, pulling the blot back on his rifle just so they could hear.

Flippy shrugged "Look guys, it doesn't really matter; the store is just across the street, we'll run in, grab some comics for the kid, and run them back here. It'll only take a minute." he stated hopefully.

Giggles groaned and shoved past Flippy, trudging over to the comic store while blasting a few common in the face. Giggles makes it to the front door and pulls as hard as she can, but finds that the building is locked. She curses and steps to the side, giving shifty access to the door. This door doesn't take as long, and apart from an over zealous hunter the group has no problems covering him. Shifty unlocks the door and opens it wide, stepping into the building with his gun at his side.

Shifty screams and grips his ears tightly as a high pitched alarm blares, sending the whole group jumping back in shock. Shifty shouts over the alarm "For fuck sake, this place must have a motion sensor! I'll grab this guy's stupid fucking comic books, just cover me!"

"Hurry!" Giggles blurts shakily, wincing in pain as the alarm continued to wail. Already droves had begun to amass, all drawn by the comic store commotion. Flaky takes a step into the doorway and gets onto one knee, aiming between her two teammates. She remembers her training, remembers what her dad had taught her, and remembers to keep a level head. Searching through the teaming masses, she spots a real threat; a spitter running behind the cars on her far right. She takes one deep breath, aims slightly above and in front of her target, and squeezes the trigger. The high powered sub sonic round nearly tears the spitter in half, her chest cavity bursting and her neck flopping back limply. She continues to search through the crowds, knowing her teammates will handle the commons. She spots a lone smoker, peering out from behind a dumpster...

In the store, Shifty was shoveling comics into a few of the store's bags in an automated, familiar fashion. He tossed aside anything that didn't read _Splendid_ and loaded up on everything that did. He had just crammed a fortieth book into his second bag when he heard a loud smash, louder than the blaring alarm. He turned and saw that the back door had been knocked off its hinges and in its mangled frame stood a charger, staring him down with its beady eyes. Shifty broke into a marathon sprint for the door, bags in both hands as the charger barreled towards him. "MOVE!" he cries, blasting past his allies and moving out of the charger's path.

Flippy and Giggles dodge the beast, but Flaky failed to notice until it was too late, and was snatched up.

The charger continued to stomp across the street, through the parked cars, and crashed through Ammu-nation's front door, stopping its run only after it slammed into the back wall. Flippy walked at a measured pace while firing his rifle into the charger's back, while Giggles ran into the building, trying to get into the effective range of her weapon. After a barrage of bullets and a shotgun to the kidney the charger toppled backwards, releasing the now sobbing Flaky. Giggles hoisted her onto her feet and thrust the sniper back into her hands while Flippy began batting off the common.

Shifty flipped up mail slot and began pouring comics into the mail slot, emptying both bags in only a few second. He was about to get up and leave when the boy's voice spoke roared from through the mail slot "YOU FUCKING FAG! YOU DESTROYED MY FUCKING HIDEOUT, NOW ALL THE GODDAMN ZOMBIES WILL COME POURING IN, HOW THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO PTOTECT THIS PLACE NOW?! NO, YOU GET YOUR ASS BACK OUT THERE AND BRING ME SOME GODDAMN FOOD, OR SO HELP ME GOD I WILL-" Shifty was fed up with this. With a sinister smile he lifted up the mail door, shoved the barrel of his gun through, and opened fire. A series of screams and the sound of ripping flesh are heard, followed by silence.

Flaky, Flippy, and Giggles were all waiting by the exit, swinging blindly with bat and blade into the crowds. Shifty joins them and begins firing off piercing shots into the hordes, clearing enough room for them to run to nearest safe looking building. The group slowly slogs their way to the tree town national bank and slams the metal door shut.


End file.
